Final answer:
Missionaries were the primary agents in spreading European culture to Asia and Africa by converting native peoples to Christianity, and they played a critical role in the civilizing mission of European colonial powers.
Step-by-step explanation:
European culture was primarily propagated by missionaries who traveled to continents such as Asia and Africa with the aim of converting native people to Christianity. Throughout the history of European expansion, these missionaries, whether associated with Catholic or Protestant denominations, played an integral role in the civilizing mission, striving to spread the Christian faith, as well as European languages, education systems, and cultural practices. Often backed by imperial powers, they aimed to assimilate native populations to the culture of the ruling empires and introduce them to Western religious beliefs and societal norms.
While explorers, traders, and conquerors were also agents of cultural diffusion, the missionaries were particularly influential in the domain of religious and educational conversion, establishing churches and schools and taking in children to integrate them within European cultural paradigms. These missionary efforts were a part of the wider colonial enterprise, which involved economic exploitation, military conquest, and oftentimes forced assimilation or conversion.